Who Are You (song)

"Who Are You"
Single by The Who
from the album Who Are You
A-side	Had Enough
Released	1978
Format	7"
Recorded	October 1977
Genre	Rock, hard rock
Length	6:16 (Album Version) 5:06 (Single Edit) 3:27 (US Single Edit)
Label	Polydor (UK), MCA (US)
Writer(s)	Pete Townshend
Producer	Glyn Johns
The Who singles chronology
"Squeeze Box" (1975) "Who Are You" (1978) "You Better You Bet" (1981) Who Are You track listing "Love Is Coming Down" (8) "Who Are You" (9)

"Who Are You", composed by Pete Townshend, is the title track on The Who's 1978 release, Who Are You, the last album released before drummer Keith Moon's death in September 1978. It was released as a double-A sided single with the John Entwistle composition "Had Enough", also featured on the album. The song became one of the band's biggest US hits, peaking at #14 and at #7 in Canada.

Lyrics

The album version includes a third verse compared to the much shorter single. Additionally, a "lost verse" mix of the song was released on the 1996 reissue of Who Are You, with a completely different second verse: "I used to check my reflection / Jumping with my cheap guitar / I must have lost my direction, cause I ended up a superstar/ One night I was in the boardroom/ Affected by the human race/ You can learn from my mistakes, but you're posing in the glass again".

The lyrics begin with a true incident, courtesy of Pete's alcoholism. He claims he really did wake "up in a Soho doorway", and a policeman recognized him and advised him to go home.

The song is unusual in that it contains two instances of the word "fuck" – at 2:16 and 5:43 (at 2:14 and 4:27 in the single edit version) – yet has been played frequently in its entirety on rock radio stations (although, in the wake of the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction and ensuing crackdown by the FCC, this song is now often heard in an edited form, expunging this word). The expletives, while not clearly enunciated and slightly obscured by Moon's drum fills, are nevertheless quite audible. This led to some controversy when ABC's unedited broadcast of The Who's Live 8 performance retained them. The American single edit changes this to "Who the hell are you?" and can be heard at 1:55.

Video

A promotional video was filmed on May 9, 1978 for The Kids Are Alright documentary; originally, the intent was to have The Who simply mime to the single version's backing track with Roger Daltrey adding live vocals, but the decision was made to also re-record the guitars, backing vocals, drums, and piano. Only John Entwistle's bass and the synthesizer backing remained intact from the original version.

Live performances

This song was first performed live at the Gaumont State Cinema, Kilburn on December 15, 1977, albeit without synthesizers and only a portion of the lyrics. This can be seen in the DVD At Kilburn 1977 + Live at the Coliseum. Despite that being the first performance, this song had its roots in jams in the band's 1976 concerts, most notably at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto on October 21, 1976, drummer Keith Moon's last North American appearance with The Who, where the band played a very early version of it, with Pete on vocals singing "Who Are You?" The first live performance of this with synthesizers (via a backing tape of the same synthesizer track found on the studio version of the song) was at the Rainbow Theatre, London on May 2, 1979, Kenney Jones's first live show with The Who. Since then it has remained a staple for the band's live shows. The Who opened their segment of The Concert for New York City on October 20, 2001 with the song and performed a medley featuring the song in Super Bowl XLIV. In later performances, Roger Daltrey also plays acoustic rhythm guitar.

In popular culture

• It is the theme to the TV show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. An episode even took its title from the song.
• The University of Virginia College Marching Band plays a version of this song entitled "Hoo are you." The change from "who" to "Hoo" being a reference to one of the University's symbols the "Wahoo."
• It was used in the trailer for the thriller The Long Kiss Goodnight (a film about a woman suffering from amnesia).
• An altered version is used in the opening sequence of the TV Show Two and a Half Men in the episode "Fish in a Drawer".
• The video game Rock Band features the song as part of a 12 pack of downloadable tracks from The Who. (In this version, the expletive, "fuck" has been replaced with the less controversial "hell.")
• The Blanks/Worthless Peons in the TV show Scrubs perform part of the song in the episode "My Identity Crisis".
• The song is used to introduce the opponents' starting players at Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic home games.
• The song was used in a 2009 advert for a Doctor Who themed episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, making a pun of the word "who".
• An abbreviated version of the song was performed during the Super Bowl XLIV Half-Time Show
• The opening of the song was once used on ESPN Sunday Night Football to introduce the offenses of the teams. (AC/DC's Hells Bells was used to introduce the defenses.)
• Louis C.K. sings along to the song in the "Country Drive" episode of Louie.

Charts

Chart (1978)	Peak position
Canadian RPM Top Singles	7
UK Singles Chart	18
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	14